Super Bowl 50 Draws Third Largest Television Audience Ever

The Super Bowl is one of the most-watched television programs in the United States, annually. And while that will likely remain true for the foreseeable future (we sure do love our football), this year’s Super Bowl 50 didn’t fare quite as well as last year's, as far as overall views are concerned.

An average audience of 111.9 million watched the game, with an estimate of over 115.5 million tuning in between 8:30 — 9PM to watch the halftime show starring Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars, according to a report from Yahoo! That falls just a few million short of Katy Perry's 2015 halftime show, which saw 118.5 million views and currently holds the record as being the most-watched halftime show in Super Bowl history, according to a report from Billboard.

Last year’s Super Bowl remains the most-watched television program of all time, as it raked in 114.4 million viewers overall, but Super Bowl 50 still managed to draw the third-largest audience in U.S. television history. The second-largest audience goes to the 2014 Super Bowl game between Seattle and Denver, which aired on Fox.

Did you watch the entirety of Super Bowl 50 last night (February 7)? Or did you just tune in to check out the halftime performance? Did that bizarre puppy-monkey-baby commercial cause you to shut off the television and retreat to your room, content in reading up on the final score later? Let us know in the comments below.